What price Zimbabwe's sovereignty?MUCKRAKER was
amused by an article that appeared in the Herald on Mondayclaiming that
Trevor Ncube's purchase of the Mail & Guardian had "sparkedcontroversy"
and a "flood of debate" in South Africa. The story had thefingerprints of
the Department of Information all over it although itoriginated at the
Chronicle before finding its way to the Herald.

The "controversy" and
"flood of debate" turned out to be no more than anopinion piece by Snuki
Zikalala (PhD, Bulgaria) which had been published inSouth Africa two weeks
earlier!

A "South African editor who preferred to remain anonymous" is
cited assaying Zikalala had written an article in the South African press
that was"anti-Ncube". But that was as good as it got.

Can you imagine
a South African newspaper editor who "preferred to remainanonymous"? And why
does the Chronicle/Herald have this mysterious editorciting the Zikalala
column when their reporters could easily have tracked itdown themselves in
the Sowetan of July 30? What sort of second-handjournalism is
this?

Zikalala, it will be recalled, tried to assist Jonathan Moyo ahead
of the2000 election by having SABC give the Harare authorities a more
sympatheticspin. Gullible reporters were sent up here to consult dubious
"analysts" atSapes and then prefaced their reports with such insights as:
"People areasking, 'what is the role of the IMF in all this?'"

We
even had one reporter suggesting the seizure of Roy Bennett's
farmrepresented an impressive experiment in cooperation between white
farmersand war veterans!

Thankfully the South African public declined
to swallow this nonsense andshortly afterwards Zikalala was unceremoniously
replaced as SABC News bossby Barney Mthombothi who restored a measure of
professionalism at AucklandPark.

Zikalala is now described as "a
government spokesman" - which is what he hasalways been - although apologist
would be more accurate! He complainsbitterly in his Sowetan piece that: "In
South Africa the key qualificationsfor any journalist to be at the helm of a
powerful medium are stronganti-ANC, anti-President Thabo Mbeki credentials."
There was a strategicdecision not to sell the M&G to "a reputable South
African with an ANCbackground", he claims.

He evidently doesn't
understand the importance of newspapers being more thanjust another voice of
the post-liberation aristocracy. They have to be ableto question the mantras
of self-serving politicians, something he admits heis widely perceived as
incapable of.

The South African media's response to Ncube's purchase of
Guardian shares inthe M&G was overwhelmingly positive. Anybody reading
the papers or listeningto the SABC's coverage at the time will
agree.

There has been an ongoing debate in South Africa on the role of
the media,including ownership, over several years. But despite Moyo's fond
hopes,there is no prospect of this debate leading to a more sympathetic
appraisalof the Zimbabwean government's crackdown on the media here. All
SouthAfrican newspapers, whatever their ownership or outlook, are agreed on
onething: what is happening in Zimbabwe, whether it is security laws,
treatmentof the press, or land, is beyond the pale and must never be
repeated inSouth Africa. Even President Mbeki has made that clear. And he
has set up apresidential press corps as well as regular meetings with
editors to ensurea healthy exchange of views between the President's Office
and the media.

Leaving aside Zikalala's inability to get the name of the
Guardian's CEOright (it is Bob Phillis, not Phillip), his article is not
quite theswingeing attack the Herald would have us believe. He says it is
the biddingprocess he had problems with, not the choice of winner.

"I
hold no grudge against Ncube," Zikalala wrote. "He is a journalist
ofintegrity with a proud track record and more than most deserves to own
aprestigious newspaper. He will probably make a tremendous contribution
inrefocusing the newspaper."

Not quite the same as the Herald version
but that's what happens whenjournalists allow politicians to influence their
stories. Snuki: NB!

Still on the subject of foreign bids for local
assets, President Mugabeappears unaware of the publicity surrounding Libya's
ownership of keyZimbabwean assets.

"No gold, no silver is precious
enough to buy our sovereignty," he told hisfollowers at Heroes Acre on
Monday. "We are not for sale."

Except of course to the Libyans - or
anybody else who has fuel to supply oncredit. The Libyans are demanding
prime farm properties and oil-relatedinfrastructure as their price. The
Zimbabwe Independent first carried thestory of farms-for-fuel deals last
year and cited Libya's interest infinancial institutions such as Jewel Bank.
Last week the Times of Londonpublished a similar story. Everybody is now
aware of the price Zimbabwe'smuch-touted sovereignty is going for. And while
they may insist on gold anddiamonds from the Congo as payment for military
intervention there, they arehappy to be paid in petrol for national real
estate back home.

Apart from the Libyans, the new owners are already fat
cats of the Zanu PFregime. The Johannesburg Sunday Times reports Peter
Chanetsa as now beingcalled "Five Farms" Chanetsa. Ignatius Chombo who has
been berating whitefarmers as "arrogant racists," is an interested party, it
would appear. Hecan't decide which of three farms in Raffingora he covets
most, according tothe South African paper.

Nobody - either inside the
country or outside - is buying Zanu PF's claimabout this being an historic
mission to right past wrongs except a handfulof African Americans who are
clearly using Zimbabwe to pursue a domestic waragainst the Bush
administration. The land grab is now being universallyreported as about
Mugabe hanging on to power and giving land to his cronies.

Only very
foolish or very dishonest American black empowerment spokesmenlike Elombe
Brath, quoted in the Herald on Monday as expressing solidaritywith Mugabe's
violent and chaotic land seizures, would regard what ishappening today with
once-productive farms being turned into deserts as"returning land to its
rightful owners".

What national imperative requires Chanetsa to own five
farms we wonder? Whatwrong is he righting?

Emmerson Mnangagwa last
weekend advertised the sort of lifestyles the rulingrich-and-famous now
have. He told the Herald: "We have made tremendousstrides since
Independence. Very few people thought we would be leading thekind of lives
that we lead today." And what examples could he provide?

"During the
colonial days it was unheard of to have an African fly anaeroplane. Now we
can even afford to have champagne at breakfast yet duringthe colonial days
we had very little or nothing for breakfast."

But what about the crisis
the country is going through? "There will alwaysbe ups and downs," the
breakfast-with-champagne Speaker said. Now we knowwhat he meant when he told
the People's Voice: "What we are accomplishingnow is the primary objective
of the struggle."

Zupco was among several money-losing parastatals
instructed to advertisetheir unswerving loyalty to the regime by taking out
fawning adverts in thePeople's Voice over the Heroes holiday. Its ad
celebrated the heroes "whogave us Zimbabwe (Land to the People) and
freedom".

Zupco CEO Bright Matonga used to write crude propaganda pieces
in theHerald. It would appear that some of that propaganda is finding its
way intothe bus company's advertising copy. But there is a word missing from
itsrevisionist slogan. It should read "Land to Some People".

We
reported last week on Didymus Mutasa's maladroit remarks to the BBCpraising
Libya for its assistance and telling all those Western countriesinvolved in
feeding Zimbabwe's poor to "keep their money".

This week he was at it
again saying the country didn't need the millions offarm workers facing
dispossession. "We would be better off with only sixmillion people, with our
own people who support the liberation struggle," hewas quoted as telling the
Sunday Times. "We don't want all these extrapeople."

The "final
solution" is at hand it would seem! Anybody doubting Zanu PF'scapacity to
wreak Pol Pot-style destruction across the land should noteVincent Hungwe's
remarks: "We may have to take this whole system back tozero before we can
start it up again and make it work in a new way."

Chilling isn't it? And
there was the Anglican Church's retired BishopJonathan Siyachitema at Heroes
Acre on Monday giving his blessing to Mugabe's land seizures, saying God's
message was he should never give up the fight.Mugabe described the current
Anglican head, Bishop Kunonga, as "standing byour cause". Let's hope
somebody is recording these remarks for posterity.

Nkosazana
Dlamini-Zuma, South Africa's Foreign minister, has been havingdifficulty
explaining the differences between Madagascar and Zimbabwe. Shewas asked at
a press conference if there were double standards at play whenthe African
Union barred Madagascar from attending its Durban inauguralmeeting last
month while Zimbabwe attended. Both countries held presidentialelections in
which the results have been contested.

"Well, Zimbabweans have accepted
the results," she replied lamely.

No they haven't, the reporters
insisted. The MDC certainly has not and isgoing to court over
it.

"Well, so did Renamo in Mozambique and they ended up accepting the
courtverdict," she mumbled, then added: "The important thing is to get food
tothe people who haveto dialogue. Food is the priority."

That way you
don't have to think too much about the contradictions, sheobviously
felt!

One of the biggest contradictions to have emerged last week could
be foundin remarks by spokespersons for international relief agencies
insisting alltheir food found its way to deserving recipients.

The
Herald quoted the EU's acting head of delegation in Zimbabwe Clodah O'Brien
and the World Food Programme's Gawaher Atif as saying "reports carriedby the
private media on the distribution of food aid in Zimbabwe
wereuntrue".

Ms Atif was adamant that there had not been a single
complaint received bythe WFP about the politicisation of food aid. What boat
has she just steppedoff? Reports of the politicisation of food aid have been
widely carried.Remarks by deputy Foreign minister Abednico Ncube telling MDC
supportersthey should not expect help from the government have not been
denied. Andwhy did WFP head James Morris only last month warn Zimbabwe
against usingfood as a political tool if the agency was so absolutely sure
that wasn'thappening?

It is almost unbelievable that these two women
would make such disingenuousand gullible remarks when they knew they would
be used to deny widelydocumented evidence of food-aid manipulation. The WFP,
let us note, onlyrecently admitted that the current famine was the product
of bad policies.Until the middle of the year it was pretending it was all
down to thedrought.

The Herald's Rex Mphisa seems to have had a good
time at Chinhoyi stadiumlast weekend at the concert held to commemorate the
Battle of Chinhoyi in1966. His report gushed with praise for all those bands
currently beingfunded by taxpayers in the interests of Zanu PF. Apart from
some unspecifieddifficulty with "over-zealous ZBC security guys", he managed
to get into theswing of things.

This was of course a ZBC gala
promoted by the Department of Information andall their stars were there.
Bryn Mteki came on stage with "some of hisgirls" (which presumably didn't
include his wife) who produced some steadytraditionsl dance "as he hammered
his chimurenga sound".

"Mteki is a bomb that is about to explode," Mphisa
reported, "and the way heconducted himself was in a fashion that he is ready
to take the throne leftvacant by guru Dr Thomas Mapfumo."

Government has dispatched the police to all farmers on Section 8
notices inthe Matabeleland region issuing them with summons to appear in
court todayand making them sign warned and cautioned statements for failure
to move offtheir farms.

Crawford yesterday said police had
visited him at his Victory Farm to servehim with summons and made him sign a
warned and cautioned statement.

"I will be appearing at the Gwanda
Magistrates Court together with 50neighbouring farmers charged with failing
to move off our farms," Crawfordsaid. "Most farmers in the region have been
visited by the police and willsoon appear in court." By last night six
farmers had confirmed they would beappearing in court today.

The
blitz is likely to intensify as government cracks down on commercialfarmers
defying the order to vacate their properties after the August 10deadline.
Land task forces throughout the country are visiting farms whichhave Section
8 notices checking on compliance.

Mashonaland West-South regional
executive Ben Freeth said the land taskforce would be visiting his province
shortly to take stock of how farmershad responded to the
deadline.

"We are still not aware of the action that will be taken
against defiantfarmers," Freeth said. "The only incident in my province was
at ImpalavelFarm near Kadoma where the farm owner returned home from a
shopping trip tofind settlers had moved into his
farmhouse."

Regional executives throughout the country said although
there were noincidents of violence or displacement, government had deployed
police andarmy details on all farms under Section 8 to establish why the
farmers hadnot moved.

Only one third of the 2 900 farmers served
with notices have left their properties while the rest decided to stay put.
- Staff Writer.
Zim Independent

CFU starts to dismantle structuresAugustine
MukaroTHE Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) has started to dismantle its
structuresand downsize staff in the face of a bleak future for the sector as
theterror campaign to force farmers off the land intensifies
followingPresident Robert Mugabe's endorsement of evictions over the Heroes
Dayholiday.

Out-going Cattle Producers Association chairman Tim
Reynolds confirmed theCFU was trimming the size of its secretariat in tandem
with the number offarmers who would be able to pay their membership fees
next year.

"The organisation does not have money to support a huge
staff complementsince most of its members would not be able to pay their
levies as theycannot farm next year," Reynolds said.

He said more
than 90% of the CFU members were on Section 8 notices and theirfuture was
bleak. Matabeleland regional chairman Mac Crawford confirmed thestaff
reduction which he said was essential to survive the on-going
reforms.

"We have lost a number of our members so we have to downsize
to a levelwhich can be supported by our revenue," said
Crawford.

"The main departments to be affected would be the
commodities section andhead office. The regions would not be
affected."

The CFU secretariat is wholly-funded by members through
levies andmembership fees. An official at the CFU offices yesterday said the
on-goingrestructuring exercise at their head office would reduce the
secretariat byhalf to cut costs as the union's revenue base
diminishes.

"The first posts to be affected are those of the two
vice-presidents anddeputy directors," the official said. The CFU has
vice-presidentsresponsible for commodities and regions.

"The
downsizing will affect the various producer associations which form
thestructures of the union," the official said.

The CFU is also
expected to lay off administrative staff at its head officein Harare. The
CFU structures comprise eight regional chairmen and theirregional
executives, 10 commodity chairmen, a water committee, a researchdivision,
extension and environment committee as well as 71
farmerassociations.

The future of the CFU has come under serious
threat with some of its membersaccusing the organisation of failing to
effectively tackle government overthe land reform programme. Some members
have broken away to form anothergrouping, Justice for
Agriculture.

The government has also threatened to ban the CFU as
long as it remains"confrontational" towards state policies on
land.

Problems in the CFU began to show in the past two weeks with
their websitenot being updated. Their weekly bulletins were last updated in
March.

While Zimbabwe's white farmers waited nervously last
week to be thrown offtheir land, an unexpected court ruling appeared to save
many of them byinvalidating hundreds of eviction orders.

But like so
many other court rulings, this one was completely ignored byPresident Robert
Mugabe's government, and top Cabinet ministers havecontinued to demand
farmers immediately leave their land.

"It isn't surprising," said Jenni
Williams, representative for the whitefarmers group Justice for Agriculture.
"In the past, (officials) have justpaid lip service to the laws, and on the
ground it has absolutely made nodifference."

Since political violence
mainly blamed on government supporters began in2000, Zimbabwe's once
respected judiciary has been utterly marginalised.

The government has
ignored a raft of rulings it dislikes and pressuredjudges it considers
critical of its policies to resign. Most other judgeshave stopped ruling
against the government, local legal observers said.

"The independence of
the judiciary is gone," said Lovemore Madhuku, head ofthe National
Constitutional Assembly, which is fighting for constitutionalreform in
Zimbabwe. "I think some judges genuinely fear for their lives."

In the
past few months, a court decision throwing out new election laws wasbrushed
aside, a foreign journalist was ordered deported minutes after
beingacquitted of violating media laws and the justice minister simply
ignoredhis three-month jail sentence for contempt of court.

Efforts
to suppress the judiciary began more than two years ago, when thegovernment
outlined its plans for seizing white-owned farms forredistribution to
landless blacks and sanctioned ruling party militants'often violent
occupation of many of those farms.

The courts repeatedly ordered the
government to remove the militants fromthe farms and restore law and order.
The government refused, saying landredistribution was a political, not
legal, issue.

"The courts can do what they want. They are not courts for
our people and weshall not even be defending ourselves in these courts,"
Mugabe said at thetime.

In November 2000, the Supreme Court ruled
that the government's land seizureplan was illegal and unconstitutional.
Soon after, hundreds of thugs fromMugabe's ruling party stormed the court,
dancing behind the judges' benchesand chanting, "Kill the judges." Police
stood by, and no one was arrested.

Chief Justice Anthony Gubbay was
forced into early retirement last yearafter the government said it could not
guarantee judges' safety. Severalother critical judges were also replaced
with ruling party loyalists.

"Any judge who has been brave enough to take
positions against governmentinstitutions has been harassed and intimidated
into resigning," said AshwinTrikamjee, a member of the International Bar
Association's human rightsinstitute.

Now, on the rare occasions now
when the courts rule against the government,it is usually in cases too
obvious to have been decided any other way, manylocal lawyers
said.

The government has ignored those rulings anyway.

In
February, the Supreme Court overturned new election laws the oppositionsaid
disenfranchised their supporters and made vote rigging easier.

The
government called the ruling "a rotten fish," and days later,
Mugabereinstated the laws with a presidential decree. Under those laws, he
wasdeclared the victor in March elections that many international
observerscondemned as intentionally biased to ensure his
victory.

Despite the obstacles, Justice for Agriculture says it has no
choice but tocontest the evictions in Zimbabwe's courts.

"We can only
have the moral high ground if we continue to do the usual whenfaced with the
insane or unusual," Williams said. - Sapa-AP

ZBC faces collapseDumisani MuleyaINFORMATION
minister Jonathan Moyo's self-serving restructuring exercise atthe Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) has worsened the company'sfinancial woes and
pushing it to the brink of collapse. Information at handshows the state-run
monolith - which now operates exclusively as apropaganda mouthpiece for
government - is in the red to the tune of $655million.

As of April
30, the parastatal, which is now technically insolvent due toextended
periods of mismanagement and corruption, owed money to at least
117companies.

ZBC creditors include stationery and furniture
shops, car hire and repaircompanies, cellular phone networks, news agencies,
electrical and computerservices companies, security firms and production
houses. It also owedZimpapers, another bankrupt government media empire,
about $1,2 million foradverts.

The company was further indebted
to hotels in Harare, Bulawayo and Gweruwhere it had booked its workers for
months when it shuttled them between thecities.

ZBC owed the
Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe (CBZ) and Time Bank about $300million and in
April the outstanding interest on the CBZ loan was
$18,7million.

Before
retrenchments started recently, ZBC's salary bill was over $70million a
month. About $11 million was channelled towards paying 47 heads ofdepartment
and managers. Over $59 million was paid to 924 employees.

Despite official claims that ZBC was coming out of the
woods, the companyremains stuck in crisis. Its catalogue of problems include
crippling debt,high staff turnover, antiquated technology and equipment, a
poor licence feestructure, poor pricing structure of commercials, low credit
rating, andincreased labour costs against a backdrop of a shrinking revenue
base anddiminishing advertising interest.

The corporation is also
dogged by high operating costs, lack of investmentin research and
development, monotonous programme repeats resulting inreduced viewership,
poor information management systems and costingpolicies, lack of strategic
partners and limited sources of funds.

About 95% of ZBC equipment is
analogue and therefore obsolete. As a resultit has poor quality output,
frequent breakdowns and high maintenance costs.The remaining useful life of
its television equipment is less than a year.Most of its transmitters are
more than 24 years old and have gone past theirdue-by
date.

Despite Moyo's ideologically-driven and much-vaunted
restructuring exerciselaunched last November amid pomp and fanfare, ZBC has
not recovered. Infact, records show it is now wrecked although taxpayers'
money continues tobe poured into its bottomless pit.

ZBC, which a
parliamentary inquiry in 1999 found to be riddled withcorruption and
mismanagement, last made a profit of $27 384 during the1980/81 financial
year. The cumulative effect of the losses since 1980 hasrendered it
broke.

Last year its net current liabilities stood at $232,7 million
withhigh-gearing net liabilities of $73 million. The company requires
$2,5billion for recapitalisation and $150 million to rationalise its
workforce.

US/EU to widen sanctionsDumisani MuleyaAMERICAN
and European leaders will gang up to tighten and wideninternational
sanctions against President Robert Mugabe and his circle ofparty officials
at the forthcoming United Nations World Summit onSustainable Development in
Johannesburg, South Africa, next month.

Britain, which is locked in
mortal diplomatic combat with Mugabe, saidyesterday Prime Minister Tony
Blair and other leaders would mobilise on thesidelines of the Earth summit
to step up pressure on the Zimbabwe ruler.

The meeting will be held
from August 26 to September 4 at Sandton City inJohannesburg. In terms of a
provisional programme, Mugabe has been slated asspeaker number 36 on the
afternoon session of September 2.

British Foreign Office minister
Peter Hain, a searing Mugabe critic overrecent years, said Blair and his
counterparts would confront Mugabe over hisincremental repression and
mismanagement of the economy. The "ethniccleansing" of white commercial
farmers would also come up.

Tory leaders in the United Kingdom said
Mugabe, who has been at the centreof controversy at recent international
gatherings, should be "faced down" atthe meeting for "challenging and
breaking democratic norms and human rightson a daily
basis".

Western leaders have been angered by Mugabe's threats of a
backlash againstthem for imposing targeted sanctions on his
regime.

Speaking during Heroes' Day holiday on Monday, Mugabe said he
was working onretaliatory measures against the Americans and Europeans
following theirimposition of targeted sanctions against him and his
officials.

"Britain, Europe and America can impose sanctions, or do worse
devilishthings," Mugabe said. "But we shall not budge; we shall not be
deterred.

We refuse to be hapless victims. That is never the response
ofrevolutionaries.

"We will, in due course, announce our own
phased but comprehensive responseto those countries that have declared
sanctions on us. They appear to haveforgotten that they also have interests
here," he said.

Mugabe said Blair was a "gangster". In the past he
has called him a"scoundrel". But London hit back through Hain who compared
Mugabe to IraqiPresident Saddam Hussein and former Serbian leader Slobodan
Milosevic.

"One of the problems with dictators like Mugabe - and we
saw it withMilosevic before and we see it with Saddam Hussein now - is that
they takeno notice of international opinion," he said. Hain said action and
not wordswere needed to rein in Mugabe.

Economic analyst Tony
Hawkins said it would be difficult for Mugabe toattack Western economic
interests in Zimbabwe by nationalising theircompanies.

"He would
not dare do that," Hawkins said. "This is hot air. It was justpolitical
bluster. I can't believe he would be foolish enough to do that."

Major
Western companies operating in Zimbabwe include Standard CharteredBank,
Barclays Bank, Levers, BAT, Rio Tinto and most fuel
distributionfirms.

Political commentator Masipula Sithole said:
"It would be futile forZimbabwe to impose sanctions on such huge economies
as the US, the EU andthe UK ones."

Australian Prime Minister John
Howard, who is chair of the Commonwealthtroika which in March suspended
Zimbabwe for a year from the club's councilsfor electoral fraud, yesterday
said Mugabe was stubborn.

"There has been no serious attempt by the
Mugabe government to engage theopposition, to take notice of the
Commonwealth concerns," he said.

Howard said he would meet South
African President Thabo Mbeki and hisNigerian counterpart Olusegun Obasanjo
who are part of the

THE Attorney-General's Office is slowly losing its role as
government's keylegal advisor in the wake of increasing use of private
practitioners bygovernment officials who accuse lawyers from the AG's office
ofincompetence.

The AG's office has recently been in the news accused
by governmentofficials of bungling in handling contempt of court charges
against Justice,Legal and Parliamentary Affairs minister Patrick Chinamasa
and Informationand Publicity permanent secretary George
Charamba.

This is not the first time the AG's office has clashed with the
government.The government last year accused the AG's office of bungling in
the handlingof the Capital Radio issue. This year Loyce Matanda-Moyo -
representingPresident Mugabe and Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede in an
appeal by thegovernment challenging a High Court ruling on the holding of
mayoral andmunicipal elections in Harare - was accused of delaying the
filing ofpapers.

Matanda-Moyo has also been at the receiving end of
government officialsafter she last year consented to an order by the High
Court to extendBritish journalist Joseph Winter's stay in the country by
five days.

The accusations levelled against the Attorney-General Andrew
Chigovera havefallen short of labelling him an opposition force being used
to underminethe government by bungling at the courts.

But the
opposition MDC secretary for legal affairs, David Coltart, has alsoaccused
the AG of negating his constitutional obligation.

"We believe the
Attorney-General is guilty of conducting himself in a biasedand
unprofessional manner," said Coltart.

"He has violated his constitutional
obligation by failing to prosecutepoliticians who were named in the VIP
Housing Scandal and those who lootedthe War Victims Compensation
Fund.

"In the past two years, more than 160 people have been killed
inpolitically-motivated crimes and out of that only two - the
PatrickNabanyama and the Cain Nkala cases - have been prosecuted," he
said.

He accused the AG of unprofessional conduct in the prosecution of
warveterans accused of murdering his election agent Nabanyama. He said
theprosecution of the MDC MP Fletcher Dulini-Ncube, accused of murdering
warveterans leader Nkala, has also exposed the shortcomings of the
AG.

While the AG's office has that pivotal role of advising government,
itappears it is no longer consulted on key issues of national importance
likethe drafting of legislation and the screening of statements by
publicofficials.

Government officials, notably Information and
Publicity minister JonathanMoyo and Justice minister Chinamasa, have opted
to use lawyers in privatepractice to represent them in instances where they
should have beenrepresented by the AG's office.

Charamba and Chinamasa have now opted for counsel in
private practice todefend them. Moyo has engaged private practitioners
Muzangaza, Mandaza andTomana to represent him in the civil suit filed by the
Association ofIndependent Journalists of Zimbabwe challenging the
constitutionality of theAccess to Information and Protection of Privacy Act
(AIPPA).

It is reliably understood that the government has also paid
millions ofdollars to lawyers in private practice to draft legislation -
notably AIPPAand amendments to the Land Acquisition Act - a duty which
normally is the AG's office's.

The lawyers in private practice will
eventually be paid using state fundswhen the same services could have been
offered for free by government-paidlawyers.

Observers have said as
long as there is conflict between governmentofficials and government law
officers, and as long as accusations of pooroutput continue to be levelled
against the AG's office, that vitaldepartment of government is set to become
an institution of ridicule.

Contempt of court charges against Charamba
and Chinamasa arose from theircriticisms of High Court judgements. Observers
said this could have beenavoided had the officials sought free legal advice
from the AG's officebefore shooting from the hip.

Legal sources this
week said the AG's office needed a complete revamp for itto be relevant and
regain its stature in the country's legal system.

"A country cannot have
an Attorney-General's office that is criticised bygovernment officials and
the general public for shoddy workmanship," said asenior lawyer in private
practice.

"The representation in civil cases is terrible and the
prosecution of caseshas become amateurish," he said.

However, the AG
in a statement to the Zimbabwe Independent, said he wasstill mandated to
represent government officials.

"In civil matters, this office represents
government officials in caseswhere the civil wrong complained of occurred in
the course of such anofficial's execution of his duties," said
Chigovera.

"In most of these cases the government would have joined in as
beingvicariously liable for its employee's actions.

"The Charamba and
Chinamasa contempt cases do not fall into this category asthey do not give
rise to civil liability on the part of the government butare cases where the
rights of officials are threatened as a result ofcommunicating the
government's official reaction to judgements of courts intheir official
capacities," he said.

Charamba in May criticised a judgement by Justice
Moses Chinhengo who in hisruling barred the police from attending meetings
organised by the ZimbabweCongress of Trade Unions. Judgement on the case was
reserved.

Chinamasa was on the other hand found guilty of contempt of
court followinghis criticism of a High Court judgement on three American
citizens allegedlyfound in possession of arms of war at Harare International
Airport. The HighCourt sentenced the three to six months in jail
each.

Despite its seemingly clear role, the AG's office finds itself in a
fix asit faces criticism from government officials and the general
public.

"It is now
evident that some departments of government are not happy withthe quality of
work being produced by the Attorney-General," said Madhuku.

"If one goes
to the Magistrates Courts, the level of ignorance one seesdisplayed by the
law officers is unbelievable. Some police officers areactually more versed
in the law than officers at the Attorney-General'soffice in terms of
understanding elementary aspects of law," he said.

Law officers who spoke
to the Independent this week said the workenvironment at the AG's office had
of late become hostile due to politicaldemands in prosecutions.

"We
are expected to be professional but how do we achieve that when there
ispolitical pressure on us in cases like the arrests of journalists
andopposition politicians?" said one law officer who preferred to
remainanonymous.

"If the state loses a political case,
notwithstanding the weakness of theevidence brought by the police, it is the
prosecution that is blamed," hesaid.

AG's office losing role
as govt legal advisor

Vincent Kahiya

THE Attorney-General's Office
is slowly losing its role as government's keylegal advisor in the wake of
increasing use of private practitioners bygovernment officials who accuse
lawyers from the AG's office ofincompetence.

The AG's office has
recently been in the news accused by governmentofficials of bungling in
handling contempt of court charges against Justice,Legal and Parliamentary
Affairs minister Patrick Chinamasa and Informationand Publicity permanent
secretary George Charamba.

This is not the first time the AG's office has
clashed with the government.The government last year accused the AG's office
of bungling in the handlingof the Capital Radio issue. This year Loyce
Matanda-Moyo - representingPresident Mugabe and Registrar-General Tobaiwa
Mudede in an appeal by thegovernment challenging a High Court ruling on the
holding of mayoral andmunicipal elections in Harare - was accused of
delaying the filing ofpapers.

Matanda-Moyo has also been at the
receiving end of government officialsafter she last year consented to an
order by the High Court to extendBritish journalist Joseph Winter's stay in
the country by five days.

The accusations levelled against the
Attorney-General Andrew Chigovera havefallen short of labelling him an
opposition force being used to underminethe government by bungling at the
courts.

But the opposition MDC secretary for legal affairs, David
Coltart, has alsoaccused the AG of negating his constitutional
obligation.

"We believe the Attorney-General is guilty of conducting
himself in a biasedand unprofessional manner," said Coltart.

"He has
violated his constitutional obligation by failing to prosecutepoliticians
who were named in the VIP Housing Scandal and those who lootedthe War
Victims Compensation Fund.

"In the past two years, more than 160 people
have been killed inpolitically-motivated crimes and out of that only two -
the PatrickNabanyama and the Cain Nkala cases - have been prosecuted," he
said.

He accused the AG of unprofessional conduct in the prosecution of
warveterans accused of murdering his election agent Nabanyama. He said
theprosecution of the MDC MP Fletcher Dulini-Ncube, accused of murdering
warveterans leader Nkala, has also exposed the shortcomings of the
AG.

While the AG's office has that pivotal role of advising government,
itappears it is no longer consulted on key issues of national importance
likethe drafting of legislation and the screening of statements by
publicofficials.

Government officials, notably Information and
Publicity minister JonathanMoyo and Justice minister Chinamasa, have opted
to use lawyers in privatepractice to represent them in instances where they
should have beenrepresented by the AG's office.

Charamba and Chinamasa have now opted for counsel in
private practice todefend them. Moyo has engaged private practitioners
Muzangaza, Mandaza andTomana to represent him in the civil suit filed by the
Association ofIndependent Journalists of Zimbabwe challenging the
constitutionality of theAccess to Information and Protection of Privacy Act
(AIPPA).

It is reliably understood that the government has also paid
millions ofdollars to lawyers in private practice to draft legislation -
notably AIPPAand amendments to the Land Acquisition Act - a duty which
normally is the AG's office's.

The lawyers in private practice will
eventually be paid using state fundswhen the same services could have been
offered for free by government-paidlawyers.

Observers have said as
long as there is conflict between governmentofficials and government law
officers, and as long as accusations of pooroutput continue to be levelled
against the AG's office, that vitaldepartment of government is set to become
an institution of ridicule.

Contempt of court charges against Charamba
and Chinamasa arose from theircriticisms of High Court judgements. Observers
said this could have beenavoided had the officials sought free legal advice
from the AG's officebefore shooting from the hip.

Legal sources this
week said the AG's office needed a complete revamp for itto be relevant and
regain its stature in the country's legal system.

"A country cannot have
an Attorney-General's office that is criticised bygovernment officials and
the general public for shoddy workmanship," said asenior lawyer in private
practice.

"The representation in civil cases is terrible and the
prosecution of caseshas become amateurish," he said.

However, the AG
in a statement to the Zimbabwe Independent, said he wasstill mandated to
represent government officials.

"In civil matters, this office represents
government officials in caseswhere the civil wrong complained of occurred in
the course of such anofficial's execution of his duties," said
Chigovera.

"In most of these cases the government would have joined in as
beingvicariously liable for its employee's actions.

"The Charamba and
Chinamasa contempt cases do not fall into this category asthey do not give
rise to civil liability on the part of the government butare cases where the
rights of officials are threatened as a result ofcommunicating the
government's official reaction to judgements of courts intheir official
capacities," he said.

Charamba in May criticised a judgement by Justice
Moses Chinhengo who in hisruling barred the police from attending meetings
organised by the ZimbabweCongress of Trade Unions. Judgement on the case was
reserved.

Chinamasa was on the other hand found guilty of contempt of
court followinghis criticism of a High Court judgement on three American
citizens allegedlyfound in possession of arms of war at Harare International
Airport. The HighCourt sentenced the three to six months in jail
each.

Despite its seemingly clear role, the AG's office finds itself in a
fix asit faces criticism from government officials and the general
public.

"It is now
evident that some departments of government are not happy withthe quality of
work being produced by the Attorney-General," said Madhuku.

"If one goes
to the Magistrates Courts, the level of ignorance one seesdisplayed by the
law officers is unbelievable. Some police officers areactually more versed
in the law than officers at the Attorney-General'soffice in terms of
understanding elementary aspects of law," he said.

Law officers who spoke
to the Independent this week said the workenvironment at the AG's office had
of late become hostile due to politicaldemands in prosecutions.

"We
are expected to be professional but how do we achieve that when there
ispolitical pressure on us in cases like the arrests of journalists
andopposition politicians?" said one law officer who preferred to
remainanonymous.

"If the state loses a political case,
notwithstanding the weakness of theevidence brought by the police, it is the
prosecution that is blamed," hesaid.

Tsvangirai raps Mugabe over militia boastDumisani
MuleyaOPPOSITION Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan
Tsvangirai hasslammed President Robert Mugabe for bragging about the
activities of hisyouth brigades which have been accused of perpetrating
violence andintimidation across the country during the March presidential
election.

Tsvangirai said it was appalling for Mugabe to boast
about the rampagingmilitias and cling to tedious anti-Western rhetoric while
millions of peoplestarved.

"Where Zimbabweans expect a message of
hope and decisive leadership toconfront problems bedevilling the country,
they are told that theirdaughters and sons will be drafted into the
so-called national youth serviceand be transformed into killing machines for
perpetuating Mugabe'sdictatorship," Tsvangirai said.

Mugabe on
Monday paid glowing tribute to the militias who recently helpedhim to storm
back into office amid controversy.

Speaking on Heroes' Day during the
burial of former Finance senior ministerBernard Chidzero, Mugabe said the
national youth service - modelled alongthe lines of Chinese and Cuban
indoctrination programmes - had generatedpatriotic fervour among Zimbabweans
ready to defend their country againstits enemies.

"I am happy
there is a growing awareness that we are our own liberators," hesaid.
"Already, the Third Chimurenga (revolution) has yielded a new warveteran:
those young men and women who slugged it out on the farms insupport of their
elder veterans, the same young men and women whom ourdetractors have
vilified as impostors of real war veterans."

But Tsvangirai said
Zimbabweans should reject Mugabe's totalitariandoctrines and tyranny of
thought as well as wholesale ideologicalbrainwashing.

"People
must send a clear and unequivocal message to Mugabe that he and hiscronies
cannot continue to brutalise us, murder us, starve us to death andvisit all
manner of unimaginable atrocities on us," he said.

Mugabe insisted people
should undergo national service training todemonstrate they were
patriotic.

"Once fully operational, the programme will be an open
sesame to higherstudies," he said. "As a Zimbabwean, you cannot choose to
love your countryor defend it. You have a duty to love and defend it! And
the national youthservice programme is the way to demonstrate your
commitment to love anddefend this country once called upon to do
so."

AS HUNDREDS of white owners and
tens of thousands of black workers facebeing forced off their farms in
Zimbabwe by government decree, they can beforgiven for nostalgia. The jewel
in Africa's crown. Stable. Peaceful.Democratic. Prosperous. The breadbasket
of the region.

Yet Zimbabweans are now wracked by starvation. The nation
is torn apart bystate-organised violence. The world's fastest shrinking
economy isdeclining: 10% last year, another 11% this year. Despite Harare's
claimsthis a result of drought, everyone knows it is a man-made tragedy:
oneman's.

Instead of increasing food supplies, the regime has
actively increased thesuffering. Instead of encouraging commercial farmers
to meet the food gap,it wants to evict them. It will lead to farmers losing
their land, farmworkers losing their livelihoods and the people of Zimbabwe
losing theirfood.

And, as the Zimbabwean deputy foreign minister
recently admitted, the regimeis using food as a political weapon: denying it
to areas which support theopposition.

The regime claims farmers will
be allowed to keep one farm. But this is nothow the chaotic land seizures
have been implemented. It ignores the factmillions from donors like Britain
have been available for some time to helpwith land reform, so long as the
beneficiaries were the rural poor, not theruling party's
cronies.

Britain has long warned this was a policy of economic suicide,
condemningZimbabwe to years of food insecurity and economic
decline.

A huge amount of food aid is now needed. Britain is providing
£32m in aidthis year, distributed outside Zimbabwean state channels and
properlymonitored, so that it goes to the most needy, whatever their
politicalviews.

Some say Britain should compensate farmers for their
losses. But that wouldmerely justify retrospectively what the regime has
done and encouragesimilar violent and illegal expropriations
elsewhere.

The New Partnership for Africa's Development, devised by
progressive Africanleaders, offers a vision for the future where aid is
focused on thoserespecting human rights and democracy. Regimes like
Zimbabwe's will not bebacked by the developed world.

Britain, the
Commonwealth and the European Union have done all we can topersuade a change
of course. But a regime that cares so little for its ownpeople obviously
cares nothing for international opinion. That is why we andothers have taken
targeted steps against 72 Zanu (PF) leaders.

Our government will do its
best to give practical advice and support to anyBritish nationals who face
eviction. Our high commission is in regularcontact with commercial farmers
and farm workers. And we will continue toprovide as much emergency
assistance as we can for Zimbabwe's long-sufferingpoor.

It is a
tragedy that there was not an African solution to this Africanproblem,
especially since the Zimbabwean crisis has hit internationalinvestor
confidence in the whole region.

But frustrating though it has been for
Zimbabwe's friends to watch its sadcollapse, change can only come from
within, and be based on the needs of allZimbabweans.

One day they
will get the future they deserve. In the meantime, we willmaintain our
solidarity while working for a change of direction andmaintaining sanctions
on the elite.

Staff exodus at AG's officeVincent KahiyaTHE
Civil Division of the Attorney-General's office is in chaos due to
thedeparture of staff who have left in droves because of poor
workingconditions, the Zimbabwe Independent heard this week.

Sources
said the AG's office was failing to execute its duty of
representinggovernment in civil cases. The office is now left with a staff
complement offive lawyers out of a possible 20.

Recently an
officer from the Cri-minal Division was transferred to the CivilDivision to
assist the overstretched staff. There is a long list ofvacancies for law
officers at the Civil Division but there have been notakers.

The
Civil Division should play a strategic role of advising government
andrepresenting its officials sued or suing in matters arising from
theirexecution of duties on behalf of the state. The division should also
renderlegal representation to parastatals but most have moved away to hire
privatelaw firms.

The office has been recruiting law graduates
straight from the University ofZimbabwe but most have left to join private
practice after acquiring someexperience. Hardest hit by the staff shortages
are cases involvingcommercial farmers challenging Section 8 notices on land
acquisition andevictions.

Members of a Commercial Farmers Union
splinter group, Justice forAgriculture, have to date filed at least 100
applications challenging theirevictions. These have to be dealt with by the
Civil Division.

There are also hundreds of land-related cases before
the AdministrativeCourt in which government requires legal representation.
Sources said theMinistry of Lands and Agriculture had set aside funds to
hire law firms torepresent it in civil suits.

Government
ministries have now resorted to farming out work to lawyers inprivate
practice.

"The trend that is slowly emerging is that each ministry is
having to hire alaw firm to represent it in civil suits and in drafting
legislation," thesource said.

Meanwhile opposition MDC secretary
for legal affairs David Coltart this weeksaid he would soon move a motion in
parliament to have the Attorney-Generalprobed by the house for alleged
incompetence and negation of hisconstitutional obligation to prosecute
cases.

Coltart said the AG had failed to prosecute cases of
corruption involvinggovernment officials implicated in the VIP Housing
Scandal and the WarVictims Compensation Fund, and cases involving
politically-motivatedmurders.

Zim Independent

CBZ's grain import deal in troubleVincent
Kahiya/Augustine MukaroPLANS by the Jewel Bank to import 500 000 tonnes of
white maize are nowuncertain owing to unforeseen logistical problems and the
scarcity of thecommodity in South America.

The Zimbabwe Independent
reported last month that the Jewel Bank had goneinto a deal to import white
maize valued at US$95 million on behalf of theGrain Marketing Board
(GMB).

But industry sources this week said the bank was now looking
for yellowmaize after failing to secure adequate stocks of white
maize.

The Independent also has it on good authority that the bank,
which initiallytried to negotiate the deal on its own, had sought the
assistance of acommodity broking firm to land the contract.

To
date, only 26 000 tonnes of maize have been secured and are expected inBeira
this week.

"There is no more white maize left in that part of the
world (South America)because of the huge draw-down from southern African
countries," an industrysource said.

"The Jewel Bank can only
bring in yellow maize which is available, but thereis immense competition
for it. That's why they now need an experiencedbroker to fight for the
deal," the source said.

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Regional Disaster
Alleviation Trust (Zirdat), whichwas recently formed by local businessmen,
has secured a permit to import 700000 tonnes of food in a move to augment
the humanitarian assistance thrustin the country.

Speaking at a
press briefing in Harare on Wednesday, Zirdat chairman DonMiddlemost said
his organisation secured the permit last week and had openeddialogue with
donors to fund the imports.

"The permit we obtained allows us to
import 600 000 tonnes of maize and 100000 tonnes of other foodstuffs,"
Middlemost said. "The permit has asix-month lifespan but has a provision to
extend it."

Middlemost said his organisation would import food which
conforms togovernment requirements in terms of hygiene and
genetically-modifiedorganisms.

"Our imports will be tested
against rules and regulations set by governmentin terms of storage and
GMOs," he said, adding that the food would bedistributed through
non-governmental organisations which already hadstructures on the
ground.

"We have no capacity to distribute food but, on the other
hand, NGOs withpersonnel on the ground have no food to distribute or permits
to import sowe will join hands to provide food to the needy," he
said.

The 700 000 tonnes would feed the hungry population for around
five months.Middlemost said about nine million people were projected to be
on food aidby next month.

Meaningful tribute to Bernard ChidzeroON Thursday
last week, Zimbabwe lost one of the most able, motivated andinnovative of
all those who have played a role in governing the countrysince its
independence in 1980.

The late Bernard Chidzero held office for many
years as senior Minister ofFinance and Economic Development. He died with
unwavering integrity, deepawareness of the nation's needs and of the
required policies and actions toaddress those needs. All too frequently he
was obstructed in the pursuit ofconstructive economic policies by some of
the political hierarchy which,notwithstanding the esteem it held for the
then minister, opposed himwhensoever his proposals were not aligned with
their ill-conceived notionsof Marxist-Leninist socialistic
economics.

Similarly, he was hindered whensoever he endeavoured to
contain rampantcorruption in many of the corridors of government, which
corruptionconsiderably increased state expenditure. He was repeatedly
prevented fromendeavours to curb government spending. He was very well aware
thatuncontrolled spending, at levels far beyond revenue inflows,
inevitablyoccasioned recourse to vast, unsustainable borrowings and would be
a majorstimulant of inflation, and unhesitantly cautioned against state
profligacy.

Unfortunately, his wisdom and his cautions usually fell upon
deaf ears, butthat did not distract him from continuing to speak out, albeit
usually inthe most diplomatic manner. Nor was he diverted by the recurrent
obstaclesput before him; he determinedly strove to devise and implement
policieswhich would generate much-desired economic recovery and
growth.

And he consistently did so with the utmost of good humour. (I
well recall anoccasion when I addressed a large conference and, responding
to a questionas to the continuing decline in value of the Zimdollar, I
facetiouslyresponded that because the devaluation of the currency had been
so great,Zimbabwe was contemplating introducing a new currency. The
smallestcomponent of the currency would be the zero, and one hundred zero's
wouldmake one Chidzero! The following day, in the course of a
telephonicdiscussion, Chidzero thanked me for paying him such a great
compliment, forno one had previously proposed that a national currency be
named after him!)

It was the combination of that good humour and his
determination to see asignificant improvement in the lot of all Zimbabweans
that motivated him topursue his efforts to restructure the Zimbabwean
economy, notwithstandingthat his colleagues in government almost habitually
thwarted him fromachieving that which was necessary.

However, he
ultimately prevailed, to an extent that government eventuallyagreed upon an
Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (Esap). MinisterChidzero was the
architect of Esap and not, as the many opponents to Esapsuggested, the
handiwork of the Bretton Woods financial institutions, theInternational
Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Bank ofReconstruction and
Development (the World Bank). Admittedly, both thoseentities contributed
significantly in advice to the minister and hisofficials, but so, too, did
the representatives of virtually every economicsector in Zimbabwe, many
non-governmental organisations, the economicministries of government, and
many others.

In formulating Esap, Chidzero was determined to canvas
opinion far and wide,drawing upon the expertise of as many as possible, and
to be aware of thedetailed circumstances impacting upon all facets of the
economy. Sothoroughly did he have the Zimbabwean economy researched in order
tomaximise the efficacy and the prospects of success, of the plans to
becrafted in order to steer the economy to well-being, that soon after he
hadpersuaded the numerous in government reluctant to agree to his
proposals,and after he presented Esap to the nation, he became known as "Mr
Esap".

The tragedy was that, although he had the unequivocal support of
theinternational community and of commerce, industry, and most others
activelyengaged in the economy, he was accorded only half-hearted support by
thegovernment that had agreed to Esap. Only those measures as did not
impingeupon political ideologies and upon self-interest were
materiallyimplemented. But Esap was a total, integrated package, with
piecemealapplication yielding only piecemeal results. Soon, scepticism
developedamongst the populace, which began to denigrate Esap, for promised
resultswere, at best, only partially forthcoming. Moreover, even the
limitedeconomic gains forthcoming in the early phases of Esap were reversed
by thedevastating 1991/92 drought.

However, Chidzero was not prepared
to be disillusioned. Nor could he bediverted from his conviction that Esap
was the path to economic recovery andgrowth. Ultimately, he prevailed upon
those who had opposed or hindered theunstinting implementation of Esap as an
indivisible package of economicmeasures, and in 1993 it was embarked upon
substantively and with apparentconviction. The positive results were
pronounced, with significant economicgrowth from 1994 to 1997. Despite the
very obvious benefits that Esap beganto yield, the programme continued to
have many detractors.

To a major extent, they were those who had
benefited from an economyencompassing little, if any, competition and who
were unable to confrontthat competition when it developed, and those who
were able to reap vastprofits from operating in a regulated economy, but
would cease to do so whenEsap brought about deregulation. Unfortunately,
many of those detractorswere within the government itself, and in the
corridors of the variousministries constituting the government
administration, as well as in thepolitburo and the central committee of the
ruling party.

The first phase of Esap was scheduled to be completed by
1995 and was to befollowed by a new programme, which would be founded upon
Esap. Thatprogramme was devised, but never meaningfully implemented, and
Chidzero wasno longer in a position to press its pursuit, for ill-health
hadnecessitated his retirement. Without his inspired advocacy the new
programmelay moribund, and the government unhesitatingly followed policies
and pathsdiametrically opposed to the fundamental concepts and precepts of
Esap,rapidly reversing the gains that had been forthcoming from the
belatedimplementation of that positively conceived programme for
economicrestructuring.

Those who had been opposed to Esap, and
especially those whose wealth wascontigent upon massive state regulation of
the economy, became more and morevocal, determined to ensure that Zimbabwe
now revert once more to amarket-force driven economy. They attributed the
economic negatives of 1991to 1993 to Esap, blinding themselves to the fact
that, at that time, Esapcould not deliver because it was not properly
embarked upon, and that whichwas done, was partially ineffectual because it
was implemented withoutconviction.

And, when the economy went into
reverse as a result of the destructivemanner in which land reform was
pursued, and of the incurring by governmentof unsustainable expenditures,
and many other unnecessary andcounter-productive government policies and
actions, the critics of Esapreinforced their spurious criticisms by
ascribing the further economicdecline to Esap.

In reality, Chidzero
had, in the conceptualisation of Esap, demonstratedhimself to be a man of
vision, with a deep, caring and patriotic desire tosteer Zimbabwe to an
economic utopia, and realising that the road to betransversed was an arduous
one which necessitated much sacrifice in order toreach the destination of
economic well-being. Esap did not fail! It wasbeginning to succeed, as shown
by the economic upturn of 1994 to 1997, onlyto be destroyed by those lacking
his vision.

President Mugabe has eulogised the late Chidzero, and justly
so. Many mournhis passing, and will be poorer for the loss of his wise
counsel. Words arean insufficient tribute. So, too, is the bestowal of
national hero status.The only fully meaningful tribute would be to create a
living memory of theman. That could be done by now recognising the substance
of the economicpolicies which he propounded, and implementing
them.

Zimbabwe should abandon excessive regulation of the economy. It
shoulddevelop the rapport and self-respect that Chidzero had for the
internationalcommunity, and that that community had for him. It should
assure thesurvival and growth of each and every economic sector, by
constructivedialogue with those sectors and collaboration to achieve
recovery andgrowth. It should vigorously contain state expenditures, enforce
fiscaldisciplines, and address the elimination of corruption. To do so would
givemeaning to the many tributes paid to Chidzero, and would be the
mostmeaningful tribute of all.

Tens of thousands of poor black pupils
have had their schoolingthrown into chaos after last weekend's evictions of
white farmers.

The pupils are children of farm workers who
must seek workelsewhere in the country after being forced out by invaders
who supportPresident Robert Mugabe. An estimated 90,000 commercial farm
workers havealready moved, along with their families.

Schooling across the troubled country is already reeling fromtwo-and-a-half
years of economic collapse, famine and widespread harassmentof teachers
suspected of opposing President Mugabe.

President Mugabe has
encouraged the invasion of thousands ofwhite-owned commercial farms by
so-called liberation "war veterans". Hischaotic fast-track land reform
programme has brought rural education closeto a standstill.
Professor John Makumbe, a political scientist at the Universityof Zimbabwe
and local chair of the good governance group TransparencyInternational, said
that, since the evictions started, drop-out rates in thecountry's schools
had shot up to 30-40 per cent. This is set to worsen withthe government's
eviction of nearly 3,000 commercial farmers, 1,200 of whomhad reportedly
left before the President's August 9 deadline.

Even more
damaging than the evictions, suggests ProfessorMakumbe, has been the
violence against teachers, which has seen thousandsflee their jobs. "The
education situation is very sad, and is caused by acombination of factors,"
he told The TES. "The main problem isstate-sponsored violence against
teachers."

It was now
more likely Australia would implement targeted sanctions againstthe
leadership of Zimbabwe, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said.

Mr Downer
said what to do about Zimbabwe remained a tough question and ifthere was
anything simple, it would have been done long ago.

He said the government
flagged some time ago that it was consideringtargeted sanctions against
Zimbabwe which would restrict the banking andtravel of the president and
senior officials.

"We haven't done that because of the Commonwealth
troika initiatives whichincluded the establishment of envoys from both South
Africa and Nigeria whowere to endeavour to try to produce some sort of
process of reconciliationbetween President Mugabe and the movement for
Democratic Change, theOpposition," he said on ABC radio.

"That has
not been successful. So the prime Minister as the chairman of thetroika and
the other two are in contact to see what further steps can
betaken."

"We could of course move to introduce our smart sanctions
that we flaggedsome time ago. That I think is quite likely."

Mr
Downer said the situation in Zimbabwe was getting worse and there was asense
that the time had come to introduce those sanctions.

He said the
Zimbabwean government's forcing of farmers from their land wasplunging the
country into a serious food shortage.

Prime Minister John Howard signalled he was
developing a plan on Zimbabwe,saying he identified with the strong feelings
people had over the Africannation's failure to heed Commonwealth
warnings.

His comments came as New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark
called for atougher Commonwealth position on Zimbabwe which has defied
warnings torestore democracy.

Ms Clark said Zimbabwe should have been
suspended from the Commonwealthquite some time ago.

"Clearly there
needs to be a new round of diplomacy to get a stronger stanceby the
Commonwealth," she told reporters at the Pacific Islands Forum
inFiji.

Mr Howard is chairman of the Commonwealth troika set-up to
persuade orpunish Zimbabwe.

The troika suspended Zimbabwe from the
councils of the Commonwealth in Marchwith the decision to be reviewed in a
year.

The suspension came after a Commonwealth observers group found
Zimbabwe'selections were neither free nor fair. Mr Howard said at the time
he favouredfresh elections.

He is taking advantage of the presence at
the 33rd Pacific Islands Forummeeting of the presence of Ms Clark and the
leaders of several otherCommonwealth nations in the region to consult on
next steps againstZimbabwe.

Mr Howard indicated he is formulating
ideas to take to fellow troika membersSouth African President Thabo Mbeki
and Nigerian President OlusegunObasanjo.

"I understand why people are
growing in their sense of frustration and angerabout Zimbabwe," Mr Howard
told reporters.

The Botswana Agricultural Union
(BAU) on Wednesday urged Zimbabwean farmerswho have been ordered off their
land by President Robert Mugabe to come toneighbouring Botswana.

BAU
chief executive Bowetswe Masilo said white Zimbabwean farmers whoplanned to
leave their land after an eviction order was served on 2 900 ofthem should
be encouraged to help revive the ailing agricultural sector inneighbouring
Botswana.

"These people are running away and they have not yet found
land. I willencourage them to come and invest in the country," Masilo
said.

"The best thing that they could do is to try to form joint-ventures
with thelocal farmers. And that would greatly benefit the agricultural
sector in thecountry."

Botswana, which is the size of France but has
a population of 1,6-millionpeople, has seen the agricultural sector's
contribution to the country'sgross domestic product fall from 65% at
independence in 1966 to threepercent at present.

A deadline for the 2
900 farmers to leave their property expired lastThursday, but most of the
farmers defied the order. One farmer was onWednesday forcibly evicted from
his land by black settlers.

A delegation from the ruling Botswana
Democratic Party (BDP) left forZimbabwe on Wednesday to discuss the
political and economic implications ofthe Zimbabwe land seizure
programme.

The farming crisis in Zimbabwe has caused a diplomatic
riftbetween the two countries.

Botswana yesterday turned away Zimbabwean farmers hoping
to rebuildtheir livelihoods in the southern African country's agricultural
sector -increasing the likelihood that some will seek refuge in South
Africa.

The government ruled out offering land or providing
assistance tofarmers evicted from their land in neighbouring Zimbabwe under
PresidentRobert Mugabe's controversial land reform programme.

Masego Mphathi, the permanent secretary of the Botswana AgricultureMinistry,
said he had met a delegation of 17 Zimbabwe farmers andbusinessmen, who had
come to discuss opportunities to settle in Botswana."The constraint is land.
We do not have any to allocate to them," he said.

Some of the
farmers suggested forming partnerships with Botswanafarmers and businesses.
"If our farmers are willing to do that, it is apersonal issue and no one can
stop them," Mr Mphathi said.

There was, he stressed, no Botswana
government policy to encouragefarmers from Zimbabwe nor would there be any
special assistance.

White farmers from Zimbabwe are trying to
relocate to neighbouringcountries, mostly Zambia, but also to Mozambique
and, in a few cases,Uganda. White South African farmers are farming in
Zambia and Mozambique.

Six days after the expiry of an order for
white farmers to vacatetheir properties, there are still no reports of any
official action to evictthem. But the Justice for Agriculture group said
yesterday a farming familywas being forced by "militant settlers" to pack up
its belongings and leaveCondwelani farm, near Bindura, north-east of
Harare.

JAG said the Hinde family was leaving the farm for safety
reasonswhile seeking urgent High Court action to prevent the
governmentacquisition.

A report by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum
POLITICAL VIOLENCE REPORT:
1- 31 JULY 2002
The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum has continued to
receive reports of political violence from Buhera. The torture of MDC and
suspected MDC supporters has led to the killing of Cosamu Mudzimuirema, an MDC
committee member who died as a result of torture by riot police.

The month of July has also seen
attacks on civil servants by Zanu PF supporters and war veterans. Teachers
accused of belonging to the opposition MDC party are reportedly to have being
assaulted by Zanu PF supporters. At Mapanzure Secondary School in Masvingo four
teachers were seriously injured after Zanu PF supporters assaulted teachers at
the school. In Zaka, Zanu PF youths are allegedly assaulting teachers suspected
to be MDC supporters. The District Administrators of Matobo and Umizigwane were
pushed out of their offices by war veterans led by Gayigusu. The campaign
follows remarks by the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National
Housing who reportedly accused civil servants of delaying the land
redistribution exercise.

THERE has been
a lot of name-calling by the leadership of the rulingZANU PF party,
especially against fellow citizens who do not feverishlysupport President
Robert Mugabe's policies, no matter how undemocratic theymay
be.

Anyone who has dared to question his leadership and
policies has beenlabelled a traitor, a saboteur, a stooge, a puppet and all
sorts of unkindnames.

This is how ZANU PF has closed democratic
space in this country sothat any voice of dissent is not tolerated at
all.

It is only those who do not see evil, talk of no evil or write
nothingabout the evil they see about the status quo, even when these are
happeningin their faces, who are being called patriots.

But one
may ask: who are the real stooges and puppets in Zimbabwe atthis hour when
the country is being ruined and wrecked on a daily basis?

The real
stooges and puppets are ZANU PF cabinet ministers andpoliticians who, even
when the country is crumbling in their faces, seenothing wrong about it at
all.

This group of praise-singers and cheerleaders are presiding
over thedemise of the country so long as it guarantees them a day in power
and theriches and opportunities that come with it.

The real
stooges and puppets are ministers and politicians who darenot question the
actions and policies of their leader, no matter howunworkable and
destructive they are, as long as this helps them to keeptheir "life-long"
jobs.

The reason why Zimbabwe is bleeding and suffering economic
andpolitical turmoil is not that people do not know what needs to be done.
Theproblem is that we have stooges and puppets who lead us and we allow this
tohappen.

The real stooges and puppets are ministers who go out
of their way tocraft oppressive legislation like the Public Order and
Security Act and theAccess to Information and Protection of Privacy Act to
protect the politicalinterests of an individual who is only one person:
Mugabe.

When as a minister you create legislation which does not
allow thePresident to be criticised, then if you are not a stooge or a
puppet, I donot know what you are.

Margaret Dongo once remarked
in Parliament that some of thepoliticians in ZANU PF behave like Mugabe's
wives.

Taking a cursory look at what is happening in this country
and thebehaviour of some politicians among us, she could not have summed it
up anybetter.

Never in my lifetime have I seen a breed of
cowardly politicians inour midst like the ones I see in
Zimbabwe.

This is why the country has collapsed because we do not
have leadersamong those in power who can stand up to question wrong
policies.

When ministers and ZANU PF politicians fail to stop
destructivepolicies that are being pursued by their leader, it will be
asking for toomuch to expect anyone among them to challenge Mugabe for his
job.

No wonder why Mugabe himself has the guts to suggest that if
he wereto quit the party, it will disintegrate and will not have the
capacity towin any election.

The reason is simple: he is
leading puppets and stooges and he knowsthat.

In Zambia, when
former President Fredrick Chiluba wanted to seek athird term, none other
than his vice president stood up to say "No". Othercabinet ministers
supported the vice president and campaigned vigorouslyagainst Chiluba's
ill-advised intentions.

This is how all politicians should behave:
they must make theirleaders accountable by consistently questioning some of
their decisions andtaking a hard line when this is in the interests of their
country.

The docility of ZANU PF politicians in the face of
Zimbabwe's rapiddescent into chaos exhibits who the real stooges and puppets
of this countryare.

One thing is certain: anyone who stands up
to oppose any policies andleadership style which kill a country must surely
be the only patriot.

Dear Cabinet and Politburo
Members Comrades, we have now successfully completed our land reforms
and I amvery happy that every deserving member of our glorious party has
found apiece of land.

I am also pleased to hear that all you
senior leaders of this partyhave managed to get at least two commercial
farms each to cater for yourgrowing families.

I actually
wouldn't have minded even if Tony Blair's puppets here suchas those boys in
the opposition had also approached us for a bit of land butthey chose to
listen to their master and so will remain poor and landless.

I hear
that there is some grumbling from some members of the warveterans'
association who wrongly thought they were also entitled to atleast two farms
each.

This and other complaints that have been forwarded to me from
the rankand file of our party convinces me that there is serious lack of
disciplineamong some of you.

There is a clear pecking order in
this party and everyone who is atrue cadre should know where they belong and
what is expected of them.

The reason why we have such a clear-cut
pecking order is that thosewho have fought tirelessly for this party should
be seen to be ably rewardedfor their efforts, while those who choose once in
a while to go out and votefor us obviously deserve less.

So
senior members of the party such as you obviously deserve more thanthe rank
and file because your needs are more and greater.

The war veterans
have no reason to complain that they were not awardedcommercial farms like
the senior leaders of this party because they are notsenior leaders of our
party.

Period.

The war veterans are soldiers and I am
their commander-in-chief. Thewar veterans should accept their standing in
life and their useful positionin our glorious party, which is to enforce
some of our decisions.

Such idle talk as trying to form another
political party outside oursfrom some of their leaders is treasonous and
will be met by the full wrathof the state machinery.

So while
we remember all those heroes who sacrificed their lives sothat we can
rightly reclaim our land, our party members must cherish thatthey have such
a wise leadership that is still alive to guide them in thesetreacherous
times.

THIS week as we saluted and commemorated the gallant sons of Zimbabwewho
sacrificed their lives for the freedom of our country, we are forced tomake
an introspection into the actions of those who survived and became
theimplementers of the ideals behind the liberation struggle. It
has to be clear that the war of liberation was fought for two mainprinciples
- the rights of every Zimbabwean to choose a government ofhis/her choice and
for the fundamental rights of all to be equallyrespected.

These
two entailed that the democratic principles of governanceprevail in which
people had to be convinced than coerced in the election oftheir government,
and that they should expect their government to affordthem a decent way of
living. Thus access to food, water, health, educationand a standard dignity
to life had to be the state's obligation to itscitizens.

But
when we look at these ideals and the actions of those who survivedin the
fight for them, one is left wondering whether those who lost theirlives are
being respected. The latest policy on higher education funding isa case in
point.

The Ministry of Higher Education and Technology's "new"
student loanspolicy is as empty as the heads that created it. Under the
plan, studentsare compelled to borrow from commercial banks to pay fees and
other costs ofhigher education.

With massive tuition fee
increases of 3 000 percent slated for theupcoming semester, these loans
could be big business. But will students andthe country
benefit?

First, it is important to note that this government policy
does nottruly exist beyond the propaganda statements and rally utterances of
SamuelMumbengegwi, ZANU PF chairman for Masvingo and de facto Minister of
HigherEducation.

There are no mechanisms that might regulate or
humanise the scheme by,for example, providing surety, interest relief and
limits on interest ratesor debt repayment assistance for the most
needy.

While there is no certainty that the funds will ever really
be madeavailable to students, one thing is clear - the loan scheme has
beenintroduced to soften criticisms about tuition fee increases and to
funnelmore money to President Robert Mugabe's cronies.

There
has been no involvement of any of the key education"stakeholders", including
students themselves and their guardians, inrelation to the loan scheme. As
such, the loan programme does not addressthe real problems, which are rising
fees and the lack of any seriousgovernment commitment for meaningful access
to higher education.

Not entirely tangential is another key question. Who will be reapingthe
profits of this forced and unregulated student loan scheme, and at
whatexpense to society at large?

The scheme, accompanied by 3
000 percent tuition fee increases, islikely to condemn entire generations of
students to lifelong debt and cut alarge swathe of lower income families out
of higher education for good. Thishas certainly been the case in other
countries with high tuition fees andstudent loans.

Ultimately,
these loans could contribute to the further crippling ofthe economy through
rising personal debts, while a few bank shareholdersreap the
benefits.

If the system is not changed in the coming semester,
students in thefaculties of arts and humanities will be left with a paltry
$5 000 of theloan (after paying various fees) to take them through a 13-week
semester.Estimates for the real cost of food for one semester is $50 000!
Universitymeals now cost $200 and prices are likely to shoot up depending on
thedictates of our "runaway" economy and the black market.

The
situation is even grimmer for students in the faculties ofmedicine and
science, as they must sustain many additional costs forin-study
materials.

The regime and its policies defy logic. There is simply
no rationalityor sensibility but rather self-serving interests. At the very
least, thegovernment could have chosen to maximise the investment of the
revolvingfund and floated an educational bond for industry and commerce
toparticipate in the education of the nation.

That, although a
clear transfer of wealth from public to privatehands, would have at least
provided a more transparent and regulated meansfor business to participate
in the education system. Unfortunately, therevolving fund has been corrupted
and allegedly looted by the "heavyweights"and some of the University of
Zimbabwe (UZ)'s senior administrators.

The privatisation of
catering services and, most recently,accommodation at universities and
tertiary colleges has worsened the plightof students and the standard of
service. One wonders at the sanity of Mugabe's government, which claims to
be guided by revolutionary principles ofsocialist equality by day, while it
carouses with the bourgeois elite bynight.

Students should see
this hypocrisy and assert that they cannot betaken for granted, especially
by people who themselves benefited from IanSmith's policies and the
missionaries' charity.

The carpenter did not pay a cent for the
"prince's" education! Suchcravenness is exactly what has sent us to the
dogs.

Education is a right that by obligation any government should
affordits citizens. It is true that Zimbabwe is lacking in resources to
providefor this right, but it is unforgivable that inept, self-serving
governmentpolicies, excessive corruption and questionable government
priorities - suchas commitment to the Congo war - have been mobilised to
compound this lackof access to education.

Clearly, it serves
the regime's interests to dump us, drive us out,brainwash young people
through the national service and torture and coercepeople into respecting a
government that has brought nothing but disaster toits own
people.

Given the situation, students must recognise that their
problems arepart of a bigger national crisis. Although it will be a
difficult path, nowis the time to start an in-depth public debate and to
reclaim what istheirs.

Mugabe's illegal regime will never grant
them the right to education.An educated person is a threat to any corrupt
and despotic regime, hence thedeliberate frustration of any intelligent
young person.

Some students will be seduced into silence by the
paltry loans, whichmight never come anyway, and might get a nasty shock upon
discovering thatinflation has eroded the loans' usefulness.

More to the point, the harsh reality of unemployment will not make toomany
exceptions for college and university graduates.

There are few
excuses to delay participating in the struggle for abetter Zimbabwe.
Students occupy a critical position in the politics of ourcountry and must
rise to the challenge.

Zimbabwe was born out of the blood and sweat
of its fallen and livingheroes and heroines. To these, the fight for
Zimbabwe's freedom was notmotivated by self-interests.

For
these men and women, the success of the struggle was to bemeasured by the
material gains of all Zimbabweans and upheaval of itsinstitutions to be
humane and promote the development of its citizenry. Thismeant the overthrow
of repressive legislation and access to education forall citizens without
discrimination.

Of course during that time discrimination was more
apparent on raceand sex basis than on class and economics as has been
sustained by Mugabe.These are the ideals for which our heroes sacrificed
their lives, the valuesfor which their attainment is the real tribute we can
give to them.

Let's solve the national chaos now. We can't afford
this regime anextra day. Be my comrade and stand up for your right to
education in a freeZimbabwe. Your silence will not protect you against the
vagaries of thisdictatorship.

a.. Tapera Kapuya, a former
secretary-general of the University ofZimbabwe's Student Representative
Council who was expelled from theuniversity in November 2001, is currently
based in Durban, South Africa

This report does not purport to
cover all the incidents that are taking place in the commercial farming areas.
Communication problems and the fear of reprisals prevent farmers from reporting
all that happens. Farmers names, and in some cases farm names, are omitted to
minimise the risk of reprisals.

NATIONAL REPORT IN
BRIEF

·Five farmers were charged this morning at the
Gwanda Magistrate’s Court under Section 9 of the Land Acquisition
Act.

·Gutu/Chatsworth – the Condor Farm owner had 350
head of cattle locked in a kraal for approximately 50 hours with minimal access
to water and no access to grazing.

·Mwenezi - farm workers who had paid the local
warlord, Vundukai, in advance on the promise of receiving maize, were sidelined
when a government truck delivered maize at the weekend. Only settlers were
allowed to receive maize, and this is one of several deliveries from which the
farm workers were excluded over the past month. Some farm workers have only been
able to access less than 10kg of maize per month to feed themselves and their
families.

·Mwenezi - People settled on Kleinbegin leased
out grazing for 2000 head of cattle, which are crowding out the owner’s 300 head
left there. Thirsty game, which are relentlessly chased by dogs, seek refuge
within the security fence and are killed there.

·Chakari - None of the farmers in this
association have been allowed to continue production.

·Burma
Valley - On
09.08.02 there were labour strikes on four farms in Burma Valley and one farmer
and his wife were barricaded in their farmhouse.

·Nyazura- There have been strikes on some farms, where
the workers demand the farmers provide mealie meal, which is not
available.

·Harare South - One farmer had the tap on his
dam opened and lost a considerable amount of water.

·Norton - On Riverside Farm the owner was given
a magazine containing an article about someone who had been killed. The bits
about the incident were underlined. The person who gave him the magazine wants
to move into his home.

REGIONAL NEWS

MANICALANDMiddle Save - Four farmers were told by a
deposition of army, OIC, and land task force members to be off their farms by
8am on 12.08.02. They moved to neighbours farms. They have all had a letter
from the DA giving them permission to grow wheat. On 13.08.02 they were told to
remove their equipment and that they would be compensated for growing the
wheat. The farmers are pursuing legal channels.Chipinge- On Lushoff Farm an
electric motor for the dairy pump was stolen as well as one calf. The Land Task
Force are visiting various farms, to find out why farmers are still working.

Chimanimani- all quiet.

Burma
Valley - On
09.08.02 there were labour strikes on four farms in Burma Valley and one farmer
and his wife were barricaded in their farmhouse. The labour demands 100% pay
increase. The farmers contacted the Ministry of Labour, NEC and the Police.
There were strikes all weekend and the farmers decided not to work on 14.08.02
and went to see the Ministry of Labour and ZANU PF. The authorities agreed the
strike was illegal and the DA was inundated with phone calls demanding to know
why there were no bananas in Mutare. Ministry of Labour, ZANU PF, the labour
and the farmers met 15.08.02 to try and resolve the issue.

Mutare - all quiet.

Odzi - The Land Task Force went to
various farms over the long weekend and asked farmers why they were still
farming. The farmers approached said the group were very
amenable.

Nyanga - Two farmers have been told to
move off their farms by 19.08.02 and they are not allowed to take anything with
them. When another farmer was approached, he informed the delegation he was
awaiting confirmation of his subdivision.

Rusape- On the night of 10.08.02, Mr & Mrs DUP
Muller awoke at 1am with their house on fire. Mr Muller radioed his son for
help and they managed to salvage two vehicles and three deep freezes. The rest
was totally destroyed. Mr Muller has had his eyes damaged from the fire; the
doctors are hopeful that he will fully recover. At present they are staying
with their son.

Headlands– The OIC is going around verifying Section
8's. Theft of irrigation pipes and crops is still ongoing. ZFTU are still
trying to extort money from farmers.

Nyazura- There is plenty of stock theft, theft of
wire, irrigation equipment etc. The poaching is worsening, and is not confined
to the settlers, as the labour sell the goods for money to buy food. There have
been strikes on some farms, where the workers demand the farmers provide mealie
meal, which is not available.

Harare
South - four Section 5 Notices received. General labour problems with regards
to severance packages. Theft ongoing. One farmer had the tap on his dam opened
and lost a considerable amount of water.

Macheke/Virginia - Labour strikes ongoing at
various farms where labour demand S.I. 6. One farmer had 5 bales of tobacco
stolen. Another farmer had 13 irrigation pipes stolen. One farmer reported
"war vets” were looting the farm village: police attended but no arrests were
made.

Wedza -
On one farm where the owner and son in law vacated their homesteads, both
homesteads were broken into. Labour problems continue with workers demanding
S.I.6

Marondera
South - A farmer and his wife were barricaded in their house from 10.00am until
6.00pm on 16.08.02. They went to pay out half of the S.I.6 package (this had
been agreed to by the labour) the balance to come when the tobacco was
sold.The labour refused to sign for
it.

MASHONALAND WEST
(NORTH)No
report received.

MASHONALAND WEST
(SOUTH)Norton - On Riverside Farm the owner was
given a magazine containing an article about someone who had been killed. The
bits about the incident were underlined. The person who gave him the magazine
wants to move into his home. Other farmers in Norton were phoned by the police
to ask whether they knew of who had Section 8 Orders.

Selous -
There have been various threats, but no serious moves to evict farmers from
their homes at this time.

Chegutu -
There have been threats certain individuals will be targeted for eviction, but
at this stage this has not happened. On Just Right Farm Gilbert Moyo has stolen
the irrigation pipes after threatening the owner. Police and C.I.O also
detained the owner for three hours because he had taken video footage of his
assets on his property. The argument from C.I.O was that it was not his
property any longer because there was a Section 8 Order on it. They said that
if he wanted to video the property of the state he had to get police clearance.
He was also accused of poisoning the water in the borehole, but was able to
resolve this on site by drinking the water from the borehole. On Farnham "A"the
owner was faced with a noisy group armed with sticks wanting him to pump more
water for them. On Oldham Gilbert Moyo came to ask for cash or building
materials.

Suri-Suri
- On Kufaro Farm settlers moved into the main homestead over the weekend.

Battlefields/Kadoma - On Overlaw Ranch the
owner’s wife was told by Mr Shumba from the Kadoma lands committee that he
wanted to move into her home, and that she would become a martyr if she stayed
in it. On Railway Farm 5 settlers approached the police about the owner still
being on ”their” farm. Police approached the D.A. who evidently said that they
should be evicted despite the fact they are on a single owned farm and they were
told by the Governor in the presence of PROPOL, DISPOL and the D.A. amongst
others that they should grow a winter crop, and that they would not be evicted.
On Pamene Farmsettlers threatened the black
boots would come in at midnight to evict the owner and his family.

Chakari -
On Blackmorvale there was a report that settlers have commandeered the owner’s
tractors and all his other equipment. None of the farmers in this association
have been allowed to continue production.

MASVINGOMwenezi - This has been a
weekend holiday of intense overseas and local media interest with at least 12
interviews given. The world is trying to understand why developed producing
commercial farms are being destroyed as part of an intense racial and political
campaign, when the rest of the nation is starving. The period was relatively
quiet over the Section 8 deadline period and without the expected sensationalism
their interest dropped. On Moria Ranch several months ago, A1 settlers were
removed from this productive farm when it was delisted. Part of the farm has
fruit orchards and sugar cane under irrigation and the owner had sold another
bigger property in Mwenezi to Government as part of a deal. However over the
holiday weekend the Ministry of Lands insisted on marking out plots in the
irrigation. On complaining to the local MP the manager was told the farm would
be split up under the A2 scheme and that eight new owners would move on there
and then. The farmer was to be left with only 100 ha irrigation “as that was his
core business”. The rest of the ranch is otherwise waterless with water being
piped from the Moria Weir. When asked what would happen to the farm’s cattle the
MP explained that they would discuss that when they discussed the pumping of the
water. The “new owner” of the 2000ha plot at the end of the pipeline (where
there is the only grazing left) is no other than the Mwenezi MP himself, I.
Shumba who is Deputy Minister of Education and whose Government vehicle is often
seen on the property.People settled on
Kleinbegin leased out grazing for 2000 head of cattle, which are crowding out
the owner’s 300 head left there. Game was poached at a phenomenal rate on this
property, which is part of the Bubi River Conservancy. On one night 6 eland and
one giraffe were killed with only two eland carcases being transported away and
the rest left to rot. Only one borehole remains intact and in working order as
the others were sabotaged. The entire settler, cattle and game population drink
there and the borehole has now dried up. Thirsty game, which are relentlessly
chased by dogs, seek refuge within the security fence and are killed there. More
people and livestock are being moved on every day as part of the intimidatory
tactic.People are bussed in to LOT 21A
in large numbers even though it has been allocated as an A2 settlement area.
There is a frantic chopping and clearing and building of houses. The only water
on this farm is pumped from a depth of over 100 metres. At Fauna (C.L Von Abo),
police were called in to mediate when militant settlers demanded Lister engines
(which had been removed for safety after several had been badly damaged) be
returned to pump water for the intensive resettlement on FLORA. A compromise was
reached and a previous grazing area was released for use by the owner. Settlers
promised to supply diesel and pay for pump repairs once the engines were put
back. Water is a major problem on all Mwenezi properties and Government has made
little effort to assist the people they have settled with water.The Rutenga Ranch) owner is reports an upsurge in cattle theft
on property. The Sonop Ranchowner
reports settlers told him to remove cattle off a property which he leases.He also reports alarming accounts of veld
fires on property. General Comments - Farm workers who had paid the local
warlord, Vundukai, in advance on the promise of receiving maize, were sidelined
when a government truck delivered maize at the weekend. Only settlers were
allowed to receive maize, and this is one of several deliveries from which the
farm workers were excluded over the past month. Some farm workers have only been
able to access less than 10kg of maize per month to feed themselves and their
families.

Chiredzi
– the Pastoral Investmentsowner was
asked by Dispol Chiredzi to report at the Police Station on 15/8/02 at
10:00am.Owner reported and a situation
where an A2 settler accused owner of cutting cane was resolved.At Eureka Ranch a delegation approached the
owner on 14/8/02 enquiring which 2000 hectares the owner would like to
retain.There is ongoing destruction
occurring on B.J.B Ranch The owner is losing cattle at an alarming
rate.

Masvingo
East & Central – a Government vehicle arrived on Dromore Farm(over the weekend and enquired from owner if
he was still on property and if owner had suffered any
damages.

Gutu/Chatsworth – the Condor owner had 350 head
of cattle locked in a kraal for approximately 50 hours with minimal access to
water and no access to grazing.Settlers
were demanding owner remove cattle from paddocks.Situation was temporarily resolved when SPCA
and Dispol were called in. an ongoing labour dispute that has taken place at
Bath Farm over the last week has finally been resolved with the help of a NEC
representative from Harare.

MIDLANDSNo report
received.

MATABELELANDFive farmers were charged
this morning at the Gwanda Magistrate’s Court under Section 9 of the Land
Acquisition Act.They have been given
bail of ZW$5000 each and the case set for 06.09.02.Since then further farmers have been arrested
and held at various police stations within Nyamandlovu, Gwaai and Shangane.Although farmers have reported to Plumtree,
there have been no news of arrests.

DisclaimerUnless specifically stated that this message is
a Commercial Farmers' Union communiqué, or that it is being issued or forwarded
to you by the sender in an official CFU capacity, the opinions contained therein
are private. Private messages also include those sent on behalf of any
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external addressees.

Aug. 16- GWANDA,
Zimbabwe (Reuters) - Zimbabwe charged five white farmers andarrested up to
22 others Friday for defying government orders to vacate landtargeted for
redistribution to landless blacks.Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's
government has ordered 2,900 of theremaining 4,500 white commercial farmers
in the country to give up theirland without compensation by Aug. 8, but
nearly two-thirds are refusing togo.Five farmers appeared before a
magistrate in the southwestern town of Gwandaand were charged with defying
orders to leave their farms in Matabelelandprovince."You did not obey
and continued farming in contravention of section nine ofthe Land
Acquisition Act," the state prosecutor told farmers Dudley HerbertRogers,
Thomas Gavin Connolly, Lucas Cornelius van Vuuren, Peter JohannesCloete and
James McDonald Crawford.Magistrate William Kasitomo did not ask the farmers
to plead, but orderedfour of them to return to court Sept. 6 and the fifth
on Sept. 16. Hegranted each man bail of 5,000 Zimbabwe dollars ($90).The
farm lobbying group Justice for Agriculture had earlier said six
whitefarmers were expected to appear in court. It said as many as 50 farmers
inthe area could be charged.MORE FARMERS ARRESTEDPolice spokesman
Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena said police hadarrested 22 farmers
around the country since Thursday and would soon bebringing them to
court."For as long as we have people who are defying those Section
Eight(eviction) orders we will continue arresting them ... they shouldn't
blameanyone at the end of the day," Bvudzijena said in remarks broadcast on
statetelevision.The agriculture group's spokeswoman Jenni Williams said
police had arrestedup to 10 farmers Friday in Matabeleland province."In
the Nyamandlovu and Figtree/Plumtree farming areas about 10 farmers havebeen
arrested and are in custody as we speak. Indications are that theymight
spend the weekend in jail," Williams told Reuters."We have confirmation that
police headquarters have issued instructions toall stations that they are to
arrest all farmers under a Section Eight(eviction notice) ... and to detain
these people until they can appearbefore a magistrate," she
added.Justice for Agriculture said it received reports from Mashonaland
Centraland East provinces that groups of police, war veterans and
governmentofficials had visited farmers and ordered them to leave by 5.00
p.m. (11a.m. EDT) Friday or face arrest.Williams said government
officials were in the process of evicting anotherfarmer in the central
district of Chegutu, but there were no details."LAND OF OUR
ANCESTORS"Black militants armed with clubs and stones forced a white farmer
from hisland in northeastern Zimbabwe Wednesday in the first farm seizure
since thedeadline expired a week ago.Local Government Minister Ignatius
Chombo, who chairs the government's landacquisition audit committee, told
the official Herald newspaper thegovernment would take action against
farmers defying the evictions in thenext few days."We are considering a
number of options to ensure that the landredistribution program that we
embarked on is not unnecessarily derailed bysome defiant white commercial
farmers," Chombo said.The land reforms coincide with a drought which is
causing food shortages inmuch of southern Africa. An estimated six million
Zimbabweans, nearly halfthe population, are short of food because of
disruption on the farms anddrought.Mugabe, who has been in power since
Zimbabwe gained independence fromBritain in 1980, says his land drive is
aimed at correcting colonialinjustice which left 70 percent of the country's
best farmland in the handsof white farmers.Friday, Mugabe told an annual
congress of black farmers that there was nogoing back on the
program."There are still those who believe that the Land Reform Program can
bereversed. This is irreversible, completely irreversible. This is
not(British Prime Minister Tony) Blair's land, this is Mugabe's land. This
isthe land of our ancestors," Mugabe said in remarks carried by the
ZimbabweBroadcasting Corp.
MSNBC

HARARE, Zimbabwe, Aug. 16 - The
Zimbabwean government appeared to becracking down Friday on white farmers
who defied orders to leave their land,charging seven in court and detaining
at least 27 others across the country,farming leaders said. Dozens
of others were told they would be forced to appear in courtsoon, they
said.

The move was the first coordinated government action against
hundredsof the 2,900 white farmers who defied orders to leave their land by
midnightAug. 8. Many had reportedly been harassed by ruling party
militants. Mac Crawford, an official with the Commercial Farmers
Union, wasamong five farmers charged with violating the government's land
seizure lawsin a court in the town of Gwanda, 80 miles south of the western
city ofBulawayo. Those farmers were freed on unconditional bail of
$15 and told toreappear in court Sept. 6, he said. Two other
farmers were released without having to pay bail at a courtin the southern
Filabusi area. Several others in the western Matabeleland province
reported beingserved with papers Friday summoning them to court later,
Crawford said. As many as 50 more farmers had been told they would be
asked toappear in court soon in western Zimbabwe, said Jenni Williams,
spokeswomanfor the Justice for Agriculture farming support group.
Defiant farmers face a maximum penalty of up to two years in jail anda
fine. Many of the 27 other farmers questioned by police were being
heldovernight while attempts were made to secure their release, Williams
said. Most were held in Matabeleland, but some were being questioned
in theMarondera and Macheke districts east of Harare and the Karoi
districtnorthwest of the capital. The police action was shrouded
in confusion. State radio on Fridayquoted President Robert Mugabe saying no
white farmers would be leftlandless or homeless. None would be
deprived of their sole means of livelihood, Mugabe tolda visiting group of
African-American activists of the U.S.-based PatriceLumumba Coalition, the
radio reported. But Ignatius Chombo, the local government minister,
warned that thegovernment had lost patience with hundreds of white farmers
defying ordersto leave their farms by midnight Aug. 8, the state Herald
newspaperreported. ''We are considering a number of options to
ensure the landredistribution program ... is not unnecessarily derailed.
Those defying thelaw should be duly charged,'' he said. Williams
said most of the farms subject to eviction notices were theowners' only
homes and source of earnings. Since the eviction deadline passed last
week, ruling party militantsmade at least a dozen attempts to force farmers
from their land. On Wednesday, about 60 armed ruling party militants
and blacks whohave been promised land by the government, surrounded the
Hinde family'shome near Bindura, 55 miles north of Harare, in a daylong
siege. The militants smashed windows and dragged some belongings out
of thehouse before Terry Hinde, 59, his wife Sue, 58, and their son
Christopher,32, were allowed to leave late Wednesday with a truck of
household goods,Williams said. Agriculture Minister Joseph Made
has suggested farmers themselvesarranged sieges of their land to gain
international sympathy. The government has targeted 95 percent of
properties owned by 4,000white farmers for confiscation under its land
reform program. It says the land seizures are a final effort to
correct colonial eraimbalances in land ownership by taking white-owned farms
and giving them toblacks. Critics say it is part of the
increasingly authoritarian government'seffort to maintain power amid more
than two years of economic chaos andpolitical violence mainly blamed on the
ruling party. The farm disruptions came as half Zimbabwe's 12.5
million people facea severe hunger crisis, according to the U.N. World Food
Program. The WFPblames the crisis on drought combined with the agricultural
chaos caused bythe seizures.
Independent (UK)More farmers held by police enforcing Mugabe threatBy
Basildon Peta Southern Africa Correspondent17 August 2002Zimbabwe's
President, Robert Mugabe, began widespread arrests yesterday ofdefiant white
farmers refusing to leave their land.

Twenty seven farmers were arrested,
another seven appeared in court and 50more were charged in the southern
province of Matabeleland, for defying lastweek's government deadline to
vacate their farms to make way for landlessblacks.

The moves are the
clearest sign yet that President Mugabe is cracking downagainst farmers
after the 10 August deadline. He told them in a speech onMonday that the
ultimatum still stood.

Farmers' leaders say police chiefs have instructed
all police stations toarrest the remainder of some 1,800 farmers, out of a
total of 2,900 whoseland has been designated for confiscation. They face a
maximum penalty of upto two years in jail and a fine. The Commercial Farmers
Union's regionalchairman for Matabeleland, Mac Crawford, said he and 50
other farmers hadbeen charged with violating Mr Mugabe's order and would
appear in courtsoon.

More ominously, another 27 farmers were arrested
yesterday, including MaxRosenfels, 77, of the family that pioneered British
colonisation of theterritory in 1890. Mr Rosenfels is on crutches after
being injured whilefighting with poachers on his property last
week.

Robin Greaves, an ailing 74-year-old, was also among those
arrestedyesterday. They were still in police custody later and all
indications werethat many of them would spend the night in
detention.

A police spokesman, Wayne Budzijena, warned this week that the
lawenforcement authorities would move swiftly against all defiant farmers.
Mostwere being held in Matabeleland, but some were being questioned in
theMarondera and Macheke districts east of Harare and the Karoi
districtnorth-west of the capital.

Five white farmers appeared in
court in Gwanda on charges of defying thegovernment eviction order. They
were let out after posting bail of 5,000Zimbabwe dollars (£60), having been
told by the state prosecutor: "You didnot obey and continued farming in
contravention of section nine of the LandAcquisition Act."

The
farmers are the first to face prosecution for resisting Mr Mugabe'sorder.
Two others were released without having to pay bail at a court in
thesouthern Filabusi area.

Witnesses said the farmers looked
exhausted and worried in the small butpacked courtroom where they were
charged. Riot police were deployed outsidethe court to keep a group of black
militants in check. A sixth white farmerwas expected to appear in another
district court last night.

Justice for Agriculture (JAG), a new lobby
group of white farmers advocatingcourt challenges to the President's land
seizures, said it had learnt thatall police stations had been instructed to
arrest farmers remaining on theirfarms. "The situation keeps on getting more
tense. Signals have been sentfor police to arrest farmers and charge them in
court ... Those beingarrested are loyal Zimbabweans and single farm owners,"
said a JAGspokeswoman, Jenni Williams.

Mr Mugabe had said in his
statement on Monday that he was confiscating landonly from those farmers who
owned more than one property.

Mr Crawford said he and 50 other farmers
had been visited by police andcharged with failing to abandon their
property. But, unlike other farmers,they were not arrested and held in
detention. He said he expected to appearat Gwanda magistrates'
court.

Ms Williams said officials were in the process of evicting another
farmer inthe central district of Chegutu, but there were no
details.

Black militants armed with clubs and stones forced a white
farmer from hisland in northeastern Zimbabwe on Wednesday in the first farm
seizure sincethe deadline expired a week ago.

The land reforms
coincide with drought, which is causing food shortages inmuch of southern
Africa. An estimated six million Zimbabweans, nearly halfthe population, are
short of food because of disruption on farms anddrought.